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Originally Posted by Cannon Shell
And here I always thought that Pitching was important in baseball. Chemistry didn't stop the Big Red Machine, The Yankees of the late 70's, the A's of the early 70's...
Chemistry is something to blame when teams lose...so writers have stories to write about and controversies to create. If Pete Rose had chopped Arroyos hand he would have been called scrappy.
Remember one thing about A Rod and the Yankees of 07...there would not have been a Yankees playoff appearance without him. Then who would everybody been blaming? Hate to say it to the Yankee fans but you are going to be bitching about ARod next year too because management seems oblivious to the real issues that that team has and is going to come up short again.
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On one level you make a good argument on this one and probably to be more accurate the word "selfish" should be used instead of chemistry.
The A's and Reds and Yanks you speak of were never selfish teams which is actually the killer of the Sox of years gone by. There is something about these personalities that subtrack from teams as a whole because on some
level the team plays for stats and averages not to win ball games.
Dwight Evans comes to mind for the sox....Jim Rice on some level is another both actually considered for the hall of fame but both about the stats.
IMO A-Rod creates an air of "about the stats" which are temendous numbers but somehow they create a negativity with others eg Jeter's comments who I respect as a player but obviously has something going with Alex.
As another similiar example living here in DC I see Gilbert Arenas the same way with the wizzards. The guy has surgery and the team goes on a tear winning 6 straight where the announcers are saying aloud "on air"
"Somethings different with this team......they turn the ballover everybody sprints back on defense same guys, same year and all of sudden they play two way ball" Whoa I don't think you have to be a hoops junkie to understand that one....guys hustle more when they believe EVERYONE is hustling including the hibachi!! on defense.
The same thing is true about ARod he gets his like Arenas will get his 30 but he inspires no one to play hard.....Is that a felony? Of course not but it may be enough to decide championships from good seasons for a team.
When all is said and done about talent it is still about how bad do you want it....Teams have to have some above average talent but then it's about team play and effort. Of course pitching is 70 or so percent of baseball but thats a different argument about who has or had superior pitching each year. Yes the Red Sox had better pitching than the yanks this year but I am not sure that was true in 2004...either way it doesn't matter they were one out from elimination until momentum gathered and took over.
Try to tell me the Pistons of recent past that won several titles had the best talent.....ARod wold never buy into that kind of system like this.
Time will tell lets see how many titles the guy wins in his career....I really would take Lowell when you factor in the two teams and what they have right now and Im not alone here